Bute firm to carry out screening chamber repairs

Bute Blacksmiths have been appointed to carry out repairs to the screening chamber at Bogany Point on the outskirts of Rothesay following damage caused by the strong winds and tidal surge of January 3.

Craig Borland

An island firm has been appointed to carry out repairs to one of Rothesay’s most distinctive seafront buildings after it was damaged by storms just after the New Year.

Bute Community Council was told this week that Bute Blacksmiths will carry out the work on the sewage screening chamber at Bogany Point at Craigmore.

Concern had been expressed at BCC’s January meeting about the condition of the building after it was battered by strong winds and a tidal surge on January 3.

BCC member Martin Catlin said: “The coping stones along the sea wall have fallen off on to the walkway, and the walkway itself is covered by stones thrown from the beach. The gutters and down pipes are rotten and have fallen on to the walkway too.”

The building’s doors were also damaged by the force of the waves at the height of the surge, which affected communities up and down the west coast of Britain.

Fellow community councillor Henry Tait, who works for the building’s owners, Scottish Water, replied: “Prices have been accepted for the repair work and Bute Blacksmiths will be doing it. A builder will be coming in to repair the doors and stonework.”

The screening chamber was constructed in the early 1930s as the last piece in the system built to deal with Rothesay’s sewage before its safe discharge into the Firth of Clyde.